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| By the time you read this, this probably won't be the main page of CFB anymore. |
This week has beaten me.
The one week that I want to read up on the game, watch old school Kansas State vs. Oklahoma videos, and pour over the pundits predictions and insights on the big game, is the one week I've been stuck at work working on deadlines for work in China (and they don't care about college football.)
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| Dat Nguyen cared about college football. But he was Vietnamese. |
Will there be a few new plays? Absolutely. Look for the Wildcat to be a bigger part of our offense. Look for a few reverses to Lockett and/or Thompson. Snyder might unveil a more substantial emphasis on the TE. But somehow, knowing Snyder, he'll let Klein manage this thing from beginning to end and won't put the ball in too many other hands but his. And that's the way we all want it to play out anyway.
But, if you don't think we have a shot, well you're no expert. This expert tells it straight up, and I like what this man is drinking:
One question for all the guru's out there -- why are we playing 10-12 yards off every receiver we face? How can we possibly hope to contain OU with such an incredibly soft cushion? I understand we are trying to avoid the big play. And certainly so far this year, we've managed to avoid giving up a lot of plays over 20 yards ... and that plays into this notion of a bend, but don't break defense.
But I see Stoops salivating over that amount of space within to work with Landry and his flight of WR's and exploiting that. If you see our DB's move up to the line of scrimmage play a slightly more aggressive bump and run, we'll know that in true Snyder fashion, he did in fact save a little something extra for Bobby. My gut tells me it's not going to happen.
But what will happen is a win At least according to expert #2.
In terms of national media coverage, I felt like this was an outstanding, honest assessment of the game from Sports Illustrated.
Even with Klein leading the way, Kansas State doesn't have the firepower Oklahoma does. When Jones, Stills and running back Damien Williams (259 rushing yards, five touchdowns so far) are clicking, the Sooners can become a nightmare to stop -- particularly for a defense that's yet to face a multifaceted attack.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"We understand that Landry Jones is a great quarterback," said Brown. "And he has a lot of great guys around him to complement him. We just have to do a better job at focusing on the things that we accomplish in order to make stops and be successful."
That's easier said than done. And it's even harder to do in Norman. The Sooners are 13-0 in home conference openers under Stoops, outscoring opponents by an average of 22.6 points. They're a remarkable 78-3 at Memorial Stadium since Stoops took over in 1999; that trend doesn't seem likely to change anytime soon.
But expect the Wildcats to make it close. And no matter the outcome, look for Klein to add to his growing Heisman profile -- a resume that could receive an outpouring of support if Kansas State finds a way to pull off an upset.
"We're gonna play hard for four quarters, and regardless of what happens, we'll go from there," said Klein. "We're just trying to become the best that we can be. This is a great opportunity to continue that."
You never get tired of reading about the awesomeness of Klein, and neither do I. Deep down, I honestly think Klein could be Snyder's favorite player of all-time. (That's a list for another blog entry, but you have to think some version of Sproles, Newman, Simoneau, and Klein all work interchangeably within that list. Maybe K. Lockett, too. I'll have to put some research into that one.
So to that end, here's ol' Sean Salisbury's video take on the Heisman Race, as well as a brilliant article on the toughness Klein brings to the table, and what he means to Snyder.
There are reasons Kirk Herbstreit calls Klein the “toughest player in all of college football—no doubt about it.” They probably don’t have much to do with Klein’s elbows. They may not even have much to do with the cartilage that was bruised in his sternum in the Oklahoma game last season, or the right (throwing) shoulder that was separated vs. Oklahoma State, or the ribs that were bruised vs. Texas A&M, or the damaged bursa sac in his ankle that pained him on so many runs throughout the year. These are injuries that Klein preferred to keep quiet about, not for strategic reasons but because of who he is.
“I don’t think I’m going to miss him, because I’m not going to leave him,” Snyder says. “He and I will always be close. I will certainly have an emotional attachment to him, wherever he is. I think a lot of us here at Kansas State will.”Very strong stuff, to be sure (and yes, I'll get started on that top 10 Snyder Players of All Time List (T10SPATL) eventually. Maybe when the year is over and we see where Mr. Klein and Arthur Brown factor in.
I liked the production value of this KstateFans video. They are basically taking one of the top #16 Snyder values and applying it to each game with highlights. Very well done. Obviously taking a few losses will take the edge and shine off these videos a bit, but since we aren't having any losses this season we don't have to worry about that, do we?
Finally, are you in to stats? I mean, really into stats?
Under The Hood via the Sooners Rivals has a nice comprehensive breakdown of every offensive set for every single play from North Texas Although ultimately they are predicting "favorable matchups" across the boards for themselves, I'm impressed by the effort. It's something I would do and write about it if, you know, it was my job and everything.
Too bad they didn't analyze the Miami game instead. Maybe then their match-ups wouldn't look so rosy.
So with that, you'll get no prediction here just because this is a complete toss up. OU has the greater athletes at almost every position, but then again, they had us supposedly over matched at every position in 2003 as well. And we all know what the mad scientist Snyder can do with a game plan and a motivated group of players.
Let's just hope this magical season takes a big step forward Saturday.
